1. Field of the Invention
The device and system of this invention reside in the field of systems for the determination of both weight and size dimensions of objects on conveyor belt systems and more particularly relate to an apparatus and method for dimensional volume and weight determination of packages utilizing indicia such as bar codes on measuring strips.
2. Description of tile Prior Art
In the freight forwarding business, domestic and international shippers will often base delivery rates not only on the weight of a package but also on its dimensional volume which taken together are sometimes referred to as "dimensional weight." The determination of dimensional weight to calculate shipping cost has become necessary as the cost of transportation has gone up. Not only is the weight of a package a factor in cost but also the space or volume that that package occupies. Consideration of dimensional volume is especially critical in air cargo shipping where cargo space is especially limited and where weight determination alone would be an inadequate basis for calculating the value of the space taken up by a package. Dimensional volume consideration is also important in surface transportation such as truck or train service where cubicle space is limited.
Conveyor systems have been developed in the prior art which weigh packages moving along the conveyor. Also these conveyor systems can determine a package's dimensional volume for later calculation of "dimensional weight." In many cases the dimensional weight is compared to the actual cargo weight and the larger of these two amounts is used to determine shipping charges. The system which has customarily been used for high-speed dimensional volume determination passes the package along a conveyor system through a dimensioning frame where a first array of infrared lights shines down vertically and a second array of infrared lights shines across horizontally. The infrared lights are detected by sensors disposed on the opposite sides of tile frame. The infrared light beams not blocked by the package are sensed by the sensors which then indicate the dimensional characteristics of the package as it passes through tile frame. These height, length and width measurements are then directed to a computer which calculates tile dimensional volume of the package by adding each package "slice" as blocked by each beam together. The conveyor also utilizes a weigh-in-motion conveyor belt to determine individual package weight. Such infrared device systems are very costly and consequently have not been widely adopted in tile freight industry.
It is also well known in tile art to use bar codes on packages and pass such bar codes by a bar code reader or scanner to get information about tile package such as its contents, destination, etc.
Static and weigh-in-motion scales have been used on conveyors and have been integrated with such infrared scanner systems to automate the process of capturing weight along with package dimensional volume data. Based on such data, delivery rates are calculated and shipping manifests generated.